Thursday, January 16, 2014

Singtam gears up for Zero Waste Initiative

GANGTOK, 09 Jan: Sadhbhawana Samiti Singtam and Singtam Nagar Panchayat in collaboration with The Mountain Institute India organized a General Awareness and Consultation Workshop at the Community Hall Singtam on 08 January. Singtam-Khamdong Area MLA, Am Prasad Sharma was the chief guest of the programme.
A press release informs that the main objective of the general consultation was to bring about general awareness on the successful initiatives on waste disposal and management system and to explore opportunities to initiate management of waste thorough multi-stakeholder participation in and around Singtam bazaar.
During the workshop, the problem of solid waste disposal in Singtam was highlighted where the lack of a community-based management mechanism was pointed out. Best practices in Melli Dara Paiyong GPU in South Sikkim were discussed where the solid waste management system has been successful, it is mentioned.
The GPU initially established a "Solid Waste Management Unit" at Lower Paiyong with the expert assistance from Maple Orgtech India Ltd, during 2009. The main objective of the Solid Waste Management Unit is to recycle the waste product and produce something useful out of it, and to generate revenue. This initiative was supported by Indo Swiss Project, Sikkim, and Rural Management and Development Department. The Gram Panchayat also levy monthly garbage fee on case to case basis and peoples’ willingness to pay has increased exponentially. Since then, the Gram Panchayat has been able to manage the garbage of the town efficiently.  The garbage is segregated as degradable and non-degradable at the garbage unit. The non-degradable waste such as plastics/bottles etc. is shifted to Siliguri for further processing and recycling. In the process, they have employed four people for waste segregation and transportation paying a monthly remuneration of Rs 4000 per person. The initiative has utterly stressed on its sustainability which is made possible by designing and establishing the Effective Microorganism (EM) Technology units nearby Melli town. The degradable waste is processed at the management unit to make nutrient rich manure “Urvara Shakti” and is sold in the market to earn considerable amount of revenues.
Zero waste initiatives in West and North Sikkim were also discussed. At the end of the programme it was resolved that more awareness programmes will be organized for Singtam and adjoining areas and an action plan will soon be drawn out to tackle the garbage problem, it is added.

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